It has been my observation over the past several months ...
particulary on Facebook ... how many many many people get on there
and post comments responding to posts/status/threads on a certain
subject ... and there seems to be a "language barrier". Some are as
divided on a subject as much as The United States itself on the
matter of
abortion.
Anyway ... It's like
this. One guy, a particular scholar/Bible Teacher/preacher (and dear
friend o' mine) gets on his page, and opens up a subject, e.g. "The
Gospel". You wouldn't believe how many different folks "come out of
the woodwork" to take him on . . . and he's just "feedin' the sheep".
Now I might be mistooken, but I think you
have to be someone's
FRIEND before you can reply to someone's posts,
etc. SO ... these peeps get on there and "befriend" someone, for
the sheer purpose of "picking apart their beliefs" or scrutinizing
their words ... or even blasting them as "heretics" -- ALL IN THE NAME
OF "the marketplace of ideas"! And I will admit, some controversy I
like, to some degree (after all they call me "the radical pastor"
LOL) and a good discussion or debate I don't mind OR to answer
honest, objecting "truth-seekers" who just really want to
KNOW THE TRUTH and clear up
THE MUD.
BUT
when the scholarship has been presented (such as on the topic of
HELL) and the Greek/Hebrew words have been explored and offers to
examine certain words in Lexicon have been made ... offers to visit a
website (like tentmaker.org -- for example) and offers to check
out a list of scriptures too ...
>>>AND THEN INSTEAD OF COMRADESHIP, THE RESPONSE IS
A SPEWING<<<
of name-calling, doctrinal rants, superiority and comparison --
INSTEAD OF
THE NOBLE BEREAN ATTITUDE of
"we'll check these things out ourselves to see if they are so" --
I HAVE TO SAY:
OH BROTHER.
You know
Language is an interesting thing.
Here in The States we speak mostly in
ENGLISH
and maybe variations of it, dialectically speaking.
Spanish-Speaking peoples have different dialects, even DIFFERENT
WORDS, when you travel down south you'll see. {Some of us can just
hang around Phoenix and observe because not
ALL of the immigrants/residents/citizens
HERE
all hail from Mexico. Some are from 'other countries' {Like
Guatemala, Brazil, Ecuador, Spain, etc. etc.} Even the
"street-Spanish" here is different from the mostly Castillian Spanish
they taught us in high escuela. And then, you get a lot of
'SPANGLISH', which I end up speaking in, more often than not.
One
more thing. IF YOU YOU ARE A BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND GO TO ANOTHER
COUNTRY, (and I mean you're one of the "good translators", a
purist ), And
YOUR JOB
is to faithfully translate The Bible in a "new language" -- one
that's never seen the light of scriptures before ... You cannot take
your KJV or trusty NIV down there and use it as a
main basis of
translation!
NOPE. [ Shades of Jerome here, eh? ...
translate from Hebrew/Greek to LATIN, hard for common peeps, keep
them confused and then chain the Bible to the pulpit after it has
been translated in English,
after the Latin, of course! ]
You will be relying on your
good linguistic sense, training, the sense of the language you are translating into and you will be using
complete and accurate Hebrew/Greek Bibles for this job. And most of all,
hopefully, You will be relying on
THE HOLY SPIRIT! YOU MUST HAVE A WHOLISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIBLE
WITHOUT
INJECTING YOUR PRE-CONCEIVED DOCTRINES IN THERE. Now, if you use English
word construction for a concept, for example, "I love you with all my heart" and there is
NO word for
HEART
in their language, you have a problem. SO ... you find out by talking
to the natives that they love people "with all their
liver"!
Hmmm. Makes sense. After all, where is the seat of emotions??
Then you find out they have
7 words that could mean '
love', but all of
them are specific, and you must use
the right word in the
right
context, or you might make somebody mad (or confused)!
CONFUSION is what we have gotten because we have trusted
an English version of The Bible, and were told to
NEVER
question it! Worse, some pastors out there
make you feel stupid if you question
THEM!! As in the case of the
topic of 'HELL'
(again), the texts use
4 words,
sparingly I might add.
SHEOL ... HADES ... GEHENNA ... TARTURUS. NONE OF THESE WORDS
EVER MEAN
"HELL" AND NONE OF THESE WORDS COMPARE TO "HELL"
NOR CAN THEY BE FAITHFULLY TRANSLATED AS SUCH.
So ... we have to ask ourselves the
HARD QUESTIONS. AND
not be afraid to do so! The Apostle Paul ...
NOT! Jesus ...
NOT! Neither of them owned or used a copy of the
1611 King James ...
nope. They used OT scriptures,
The Septuagint. Hmmm.
Greek translation of The Hebrew. Nobody ever questioned them on how they used it either. If we could go into a time machine, hand them a KJV, and a book on
"English for dummies" They would say, "Who wrote this 'Bible'???" Because
THAT Bible, along with some others ...
SORRY FOLKS ... it just doesn't hold up to the FAITHFUL record in the oldest scrolls we possess of The Scriptures ...
Old & New. We have been told to trust it because of the
"beauty of the prose" or the way it flows, or
"this is what it means." KJV
was ONE of many translations of the day; and I dare say that many of
you, if you were to pick up an ancient copy of it, couldn't read it.
Also the book has gone through countless revisions,
meaning, that there were
gross errors and
changes of language. Do you know anybody who speaketh
Elizabethan English?
***
[Maybe we should pass out a case of the "Cottonpatch Version" just so
we can have a wider understanding of communicating TRUTH in other
cultures!] ***
+++ [ Amazing to me, how
many preacher/teachers will have copies of other Bibles on their pulpits
& libraries that they refer to, and to "correctly"
interpret words
...
because of the errors ... AND yet continue to
COMMAND that
EVERYBODY must use the KJV
*Or Else* !!! ] +++
IT'S HARD to trust a Bible Version that has so many errors, and so much injection of man-made doctrines in it, because
the translators chose to translate certain but VITAL words
WRONG! . . .
According to their predominantly Calvinistic bents!
SO EVERYBODY GET OUT YOUR LEXICONS and your concordances, your
Strongs', Your "Concordant Literal Translations" ETC. -- and study the words that were
FIRST delivered to mankind in Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic and remember that good ol' ENGLISH
doesn't always CUT IT.
WE
MUST BE WILLING TO LET GO OF TRADITIONS, CHURCH HISTORY (as far as
indoctrination goes) SYSTEMS OF BELIEFS, DENOMINATIONAL BIAS,
PROGRAMMING BY CHURCH LEADERS, FAMILY TRADITIONAL INDOCTRINATION, IF
it does NOT line up with THE TRUTH. WE MUST BE WILLING TO QUESTION
AGE-OLD,
LONG-HELD DOCTRINES IF THEY BEGIN TO FALL APART, AND NO LONGER MAKE SENSE.
Language Matters. Interpretation Matters. Translation MATTERS.
The purpose of this blog today ... is to celebrate the theatre of ideas,
BUT also to ENCOURAGE sound scholarship and, the removal of
FEAR and DENIAL regarding things we hold onto so tightly.
Never be afraid to re-examine WHAT YOU BELIEVE.
SO ...
YAKETY YAK, It's OK to talk back.
It's OK to ask questions and to even object.
It's ok if you don't get it [yet].
Not all have come to 'more light' yet.
Their time is coming!
God promised that
THE WHOLE EARTH would be
FILLED WITH HIS GLORY
and
HIS TRUTH GOES MARCHING ON!!!
PEACE, PEOPLE.
TONY ;)
